It's a old motherboard with a Pentium 4 that's been sitting around in my cellar (basement) for 6 months or so. I want to put XBMC on it so I recently put the motherboard into a case I had lying around. Out of all the connectors for the case (CPU light, HDD light, power button, reset switch etc), I only connected the power switch as I wasn't sure which pins were which for the other stuff. There's 3 RAM slots, one containing a 256MB stick and two containing 128MB sticks.
When I turn it on, I see the BIOS logo and get a brief beep, a line of text appears saying something like "Main processor: Intel Pentium 4", then it just hangs. No beeps, nothing.
[b]Things I've tried:[/b]
Swapping the RAM sticks round
Trying just one stick of RAM
Removing the GPU - this just caused a beep code error for "Couldn't initialise graphics hardware" - not much use
Resetting BIOS by removing CMOS battery
Swearing at it
Threatening to throw it in the bin
Nothing has worked so far. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.
You could try booting with no sticks of ram(If you haven't already). The mobo should have base memory, so if you can get into BIOS(If you couldn't before) with no sticks, would possibly mean bad ram. Good luck.
I tried doing that but it just beeped, I assume there isn't any memory on the motherboard itself. It is pretty old :/
[editline]29th November 2012[/editline]
Oh and I couldn't get into the BIOS before even if I hit the button as soon as it powered on.
It sounds like it's hanging on POST, the mobo may be good still, possibly a sign of bad CPU. If you could verify that one or more sticks are working, than you'll narrow things down a bit more.
[QUOTE=Ev1L Cracka;38634795]You could try booting with no sticks of ram(If you haven't already). The mobo should have base memory, so if you can get into BIOS(If you couldn't before) with no sticks, would possibly mean bad ram. Good luck.[/QUOTE]
That's a load of BS. The only devices that could have onboard memory are laptops. And even then: these are just normal RAM modules soldered onto the board.
The only memory onboard is CMOS RAM, a small piece of memory that holds the BIOS settings.
Despite of what many think, you can't boot into the BIOS without a CPU or RAM.
As for the OP,
Try disconnecting all other devices such as hard drives and CD-ROM drives. Since this board will most likely have IDE only, the problem might be caused by a faulty jumper setting.
Also, have you checked the RAM slots as well? Try putting a stick in the second or third slot only. The board will most likely work under normal circumstances if the first slot is empty.
- Ah nevermind. Best of luck with your old P4. :)
[QUOTE=Ev1L Cracka;38635108]I have a GIGABYTE 990FXA-UD3 mobo(motherboard) and it has base memory and pretty sure it boots into BIOS without any ram sticks, might be a feature from the brand.[/QUOTE]
No it won't. That model just has dual BIOS, an extra backup bios in case the flashing of the main bios.
[QUOTE=Ev1L Cracka;38634795]You could try booting with no sticks of ram(If you haven't already). The mobo should have base memory, so if you can get into BIOS(If you couldn't before) with no sticks, would possibly mean bad ram. Good luck.[/QUOTE]
Since when did MOBO have memory?
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